Saving Her
by HighFlyer09
Summary: palex fic. Alex is lost in a world of pain created by her mother's boyfriend. Will someone be able to find her and save her before she is lost completely?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. **

**Summer break!! Finally, now i can actually get some writing done. lol Anyways, this is a new fic i'm thinking of starting. I've got a 1st chapter in the works, so tell me what you think, and I'll continue! Thx!**

**

* * *

**

She slowly crept her way down the hall. '_You're almost there_,' she thought. '_Just a little farther…_'

"Where the fuck do you think you're goin'!"

'_Damn…_' She slowly turned around. Chad sneered at her and took another swig from the bottle in his hand. "What's the matter bitch, you scared or sumthin'?" He made his way towards her, and she backed away.

"Get the fuck away from me." She backed into her room and slammed her door shut.

"Hahaha scared little shit, aren't ya." He took another swig, chuckled to himself, turned around, and headed back to the couch where he had previously been watching TV.

Alex let the breath she had been holding out, and slid down the door. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. She never understood how or why her mother, Emily, always chose the seems-good-but-really-bad guy every single time, but she did, and here was number ten, Chad, who seemed to love to not just attack his girlfriend, but also his girlfriend's daughter. Of course, Emily didn't know about it. Alex could have told her plenty of times, but she figured that Emily had too many problems on her hand. So, she kept her mouth shut, and took the beatings with as little noise as possible.

Alex sighed, got up, and looked around her cluttered room. It was the middle of a Saturday afternoon, and she had absolutely nothing to do. She didn't want to hang out in the ravine because Jay was probably there and she wasn't really on good terms with him after the whole cheating on her with her best friend thing, and she didn't want to go watch TV because, well heck, Chad was out there. So, here she was, Alex Nunez, the Queen of the Badasses, stuck at home with her mother's abusive boyfriend. How exciting.

Sighing again, she headed towards her bed and lay down gingerly. The bruises on her back from a week ago when she had accidentally dropped a plate were starting to go away, but they still hurt like hell. She put her arm over her eyes and tried to relax a little more. '_Maybe if I fall asleep, this shitty world won't seem as bad…_'She laughed bitterly to herself. _'Riiiight.'_ She rolled over onto her side, and slowly began to fall asleep.

But what she didn't realize was that her world was about to change…very dramatically.

* * *

**Tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Here's the 1st chapter. Tell me what you think! **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 1**

The shrill sound of her alarm clock startled Paige Michalchuk out of her dreams and into Monday morning. She slammed her hand down on the annoying machine, and it immediately stopped it's beeping. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and pushed off her covers. It was another Monday; another week of guys staring, girls bitching, and teachers lecturing. Joy.

She got up and started undressing as she headed towards her bathroom. She turned on the shower and warm water gushed out. She stepped in and relaxed as the warm water cascaded down her body. Her mind wandered through her thoughts of what she was going to do throughout the day. _'Maybe I'll ask Hazel if she wants to come over and do homework after school…' _

Paige pulled into the school parking lot forty minutes later, turned off her car, and stepped out. She slung her bag over her shoulder and headed up the stairs of Degrassi. She pulled open the doors and headed down the hall, saying hi to people she knew. As she turned the corner she bumped into someone and the person's stuff spilled everywhere.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Here let me help." She immediately bent down and started to pick up the papers and folders without even looking at the person.

"Don't bother, I got it." It was Alex Nunez.

"No, it's ok, I'll help." They both picked up the papers and started putting them back into the folders. They stood up as they finished and Paige handed Alex the folder she was holding. "Here ya go."

"Thanks…I guess. You might want to hurry though. You probably don't want people seeing that you helped a poor loser freak like me." And with that, Alex took off down the hall without waiting for an answer from Paige.

"Ok…sorry for being nice. Geez."

"Talking to ourselves, are we. You know, people say that's the first sign of insanity."

Paige smiled and turned to her friend. "Hey Marco! How are you?" She hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"I'm good. Just back at school…again. Anyways, what was with the look?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just starting the day kind of weirdly." They both started walking down the hallway, and stopped at Paige's locker. She opened it and started gathering her things.

"So," Marco continued, " Keep this Friday night free. Jimmy's having a party at the beach, and he's inviting, like, everybody."

"Ew, even Heather Sinclaire?"

"Well, not everybody, but you get the idea," Marco chuckled.

"Yea. Oh, hey Hazel!" Paige greeted her friend with a hug. "How was your weekend. Did you and Jimmy do anything remotely interesting?"

"Oh Paige, I'll save you from hearing the boringness that is my relationship," she chided back. "Actually, he took me to dinner and a movie."

Marco snorted. "How original."

"Shut up Marco, I happen to like original."

Paige shut her locker and they all started walking towards their first class. "Well, I think that's sweet, Hazel. Don't mind Marco. He's gay, so original isn't really in his vocabulary." They all laughed. They turned the corner and headed towards Mr. Simpson's window room, but they stopped when they heard raised voices.

"Leave me alone, Jay. I told you, we're through!" Alex stormed around the corner, followed closely by her juvenile ex-boyfriend.

"Come on, Lexi. You know we still have stuff in common. Why won't you give me another chance?"

"Because you're a lying, cheating bastard, and I'm sick of it!"

"Well, this looks interesting," Hazel said. They stopped and watched. Paige looked around and realized that the ex-couple were attracting a lot of attention.

"Alex," Jay whined, "I miss you. Why can't we hang out like we used too? We always had so much fun." He moved closer and she backed against the lockers.

"Jay, I told you already. I don't like you, so leave me alone!" She tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm roughly.

"Where do you think your going, I'm not finished!" He pulled her roughly to him and then slammed her against the lockers.

"Hey!" Marco quickly walked up to them and pulled Jay off of Alex. "Dude, back off!" He stood in front of Alex, who had slid to the floor holding her arm with an expression of pain on her face.

"What are you going to do about it, faggot?" Marco and Jay glared into each others eyes.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Simpson's head peaked out of his room. "Is there a problem?"

Jay and Marco stood facing each other glaringly until Jay said, "No, sir. Everything's fine."

"Then get to class, Jason. I happen to know that you're about a tardy away from being suspended." Mr. Simpson went back to his classroom.

"You got lucky this time, fag," he said to Marco. Then, he looked over Marco's shoulder down to Alex and said, "We'll finish our conversation later." And with that, Jay turned around and lumbered down the hallway, pushing through the crowd of kids that had formed.

Marco released the breath he was holding as Paige and Hazel hurried up to him.

"Damn Marco, that was really brave."

"Yea, I guess Dylan is starting to rub off on me." He smiled sheepishly and turned around and held out his hand to Alex. "Hey, are you ok?"

She glared at him, and pushed herself up without taking his hand. "I'm fine," she hissed, and stalked into Mr. Simpson's class.

"Well, isn't she pleasant," Hazel stated. She rolled her eyes and headed into the class.

Paige and Marco stood outside and watched Alex sit down in the back of the classroom, slowly rubbing her arm.

"You think she's ok?" Paige asked, concerned.

"I hope so. I'm surprised Jay was able to hurt her that much. She's usually so tough," Marco replied. "But ah well, no big deal. She's probably used to that asshole by now." And he followed Hazel inside.

Paige stood outside for a second longer staring at Alex. She didn't know why, but there was something that told her that there was more to Alex Nunez than just the bad ass that everyone saw.

* * *

Alex sat down and rubbed her arm. It was hurting pretty bad. She was surprised that Jay had actually physically attacked her like that. He'd never done that before, but then again, he was a complete ass, so it didn't really surprise her. It still scared her though. He had seemed so much like Chad in that one instant that she had let her guard down. She sighed, shook her head, and straightened up in her chair. No need to be thinking about that jerk now because she would have to face him all evening. Due to some rent issues, her mother was pulling double duty at work, trying to get extra money.

"Welcome to Monday, class!" Mr. Simpson said in his overly cheerful voice. "Today we're going to go over the…"

Alex slowly started to glaze into her usual stupor, and soon she wasn't even hearing Mr. Simpson. She wandered into the forbidden places of her mind where her secrets of her life were, and soon they were unraveling through out her mind as she thought about the passed weeks. She thought about a particularly painful and frightening time, about a month ago, and soon, she was reliving it in her head…

_"Stupid cunt!" Chad yelled, and he backhanded Alex. She fell over the side table and crashed onto the floor, where she curled up in pain. "I fucking told you not to do that! Are you retarded or sumthin??" He walked around the table and bent over her and picked her up by the hood of her sweatshirt and kicked her in her stomach. She grunted and fell back to the floor. _

_She wasn't exactly sure what she had done, but whatever it was, he didn't seem to like it. It was her mother's fourth month of dating this guy, and Alex was seriously starting to get sick of everything. She tried to get up, but the pain in her ribs from where he had kicked her weakened her and she wasn't able to move. She fell back to the floor and gritted her teeth._

_"How can Emily have spawned such a stupid retarded kid like you, you piece of shit! She may be stupid, but at least she doesn't get in my way when I'm trying to watch my favorite show!"_

_Oh, so that's what it was. She had walked in front of his beloved TV. That had to be the stupidest thing she had ever heard. The pain in her ribs had subsided a little, so she managed to get up, but slowly, and she couldn't stand up straight._

_Chad was still ranting and raving, but she wasn't paying much attention until he said, "I know where you get it. It's probably from that ass of a man. What's the bastards name, Zander, or sumthin-"_

_"His name was Alexander, you prick! And don't you ever talk about my father like that!" She charged him down and startled him with a nice right hook. She didn't get rated number one tough chick in her school for nothing. _

_Chad stumbled backwards with a look of surprise on his face. It seemed like he wasn't used to someone standing up against him instead of cowering beneath him. He rubbed his jaw and suddenly his expression changed. It wasn't the usual angry one, but it was an overly pissed, "I'm gonna kill you" face, and it scared the hell out of Alex. She slowly tried to back away._

_"Where the fuck you think you're goin you bitch! You think you can get away with hitting me? Huh? You stupid fucking piece of shit!!" He charged at her and started pummeling her. She fell to the floor on her back and managed to cover her face, but the rest of her body took the hits. The pain was so immense. She couldn't handle it, and suddenly she realized that she was crying, but it didn't help her cause at all._

_"Oh, so now you're crying. You stupid cunt, I'll give you a reason to cry!" He whipped off his belt, yanked up her white wife beater, and started whipping her with it. She cried out in pain as each hit became harder and harder. The pain blinded her. She tried to get out from under his reach, but he was too strong, and the pain was making her too weak. So she stayed there, getting whipped by the belt buckle, knowing that she was going to be in a world of pain for awhile, even after he stops hitting her, if he ever does…_

"Alex…Alex!"

Alex jumped in her seat, but immediately regretted it as her back hit the back of the seat hard. Pain shot up her spine from where Jay had thrown her against the lockers.

"Yes, sir?"

"Would you like to join us?" Mr. Simpson had caught her reminiscing.

"Not really…sir." Alex gave him a fake smile.

Mr. Simpson frowned. "Well, you're going to have to deal with it. Now pay attention." He headed back towards the front of the room and began his lesson again. "Now, go to start and click on Microsoft Excel. Then click on…yes Alex?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Uh, can I go to the bathroom?"

Mr. Simpson sighed. "Fine." Alex started to get up and head out the door. "But if you're not back in five minutes, I'm sending someone to get you. You're not skipping my class again, you hear me?"

"Whatever." She walked out of the classroom and headed towards the girls bathroom. She pushed the door open and headed towards the sink. She put the tap on and stuck her hands under the cold water. She made a bowl with her hands, captured some water, bent over, and splashed it over her face. She didn't shudder as the cool water hit her face. She sighed and placed her hands on the counter and leaned against it, her eyes closed. Images flashed across her mind of what she had just relived in her mind. She shuddered then, and opened her eyes. She turned off the tap and slowly got paper towels to dry her hands and face. As she was drying her face, she looked in the mirror and looked at herself. Her wife beater had moved up slightly and she saw the red marks that were still there. She dropped her arms and slowly lifted her tank top. The sight of all the scars and marks from that time she had actually fought back were scattered across her stomach in random pairs and crosses. She rubbed her hand over them and her mind flashed back again. She shook her head roughly to get the images out, and sighed and pulled her wife beater back down. She turned around to head back out and almost ran into Paige Michalchuk who had a shocked look on her face. _'Damn it…'_

"Oh my god…"

"What? Close your mouth, you look like a giant fish," Alex said grumpily and tried to walk around the head cheerleader, but she just blocked her way.

"Alex…what happened to you?"

"Nothing." She tried again, but the blonde wouldn't budge. "Will you please move out of the way, or would you rather have Mr. Simpson suspend me. Not that you'd care or anything."

"First tell me what happened to you. You don't get that many scars in one area randomly." Paige reverted back to her nosy self.

Alex glared at her. "It's none of your damn business. Now move or I'll move you with my fist." Paige stepped to the side and let the slightly pissed Latino go by. She followed a few seconds after to give the girl some space, but all the while she was thinking. She had seen the scars. She could tell they weren't from a knife. She had seen how Ellie's arm had looked and it looked nothing like what she had seen on Alex. Alex's were redder and puffier. Had she been whipped? Paige bit her lower lip and sighed. Why did she always seem to find out peoples secrets in the bathroom, and why were they always the people who she was supposed to dislike?


	3. Chapter 2

Ok, here's chapter 2. Hope you like it!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

_Alex ran as fast as she could. She didn't know where she was. Wait…no, she knew where this was. She was in her old neighborhood where she had lived before she moved to the apartment she lived in now. She kept running, but…what was she running from? She didn't know. She turned around and her eyes widened. Right behind her, as if magically conjured, was Degrassi and her apartment building and…Chad. She turned around and took off running again, but the further she ran, the closer the ground seemed to come up to her. She stopped and stared…something wasn't right. She held up her hands and she noticed how small they were. They were toddler's hands. She looked up and looked where she had stopped. It was her old house! And there was…no…could it be? _

_"Hurry up, Bumble Bee! The burgers are going to get cold!" It was her dad. But… it couldn't be…he was dead. She stared as she watched the man who looked exactly like her father go about setting the table out on the deck. She watched as her mother walked out the door carrying various condiments on a tray to put onto the burgers. Her father smiled and swept the tray of food away from her mother and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Emily giggled and took the tray back. Alexander smiled like a little boy on Christmas, and turned back to Alex._

_"Are you ok sweetie?" Her father's face conveyed concern as he made his way off the deck to his daughter. He stopped and kneeled in front of her._

_"Dad…is it really you?" Toddler Alex held out a small hand._

_Alexander looked confused. "Of course it's me," he chuckled. He gently took her hand in his and kissed it. "I haven't gone anywhere, now come on! The food's getting cold!" He got up, picked her up, and put her on his shoulders. Alex giggled and clung on. Everything felt so right…_

_Suddenly, the sky darkened. A wind swept through the neighborhood. Alexander stopped and turned around. He slowly lifted Alex down and placed her on the street._

_"What's wrong daddy? Dinner's gonna get cold!" Alex looked up into her father's eyes and crinkled her eyebrows. His face had suddenly gotten serious, and he glared at something down the road. Alex turned and followed his gaze. A man was standing there, something shiny in his hand._

_"Alex, go inside."_

_"But, I wanna stay with you, daddy." She tugged on his arm. _

_"Alex, do as I say! Go inside!" He gently pushed her towards the way of their house. _

_"But daddy…" Her eyes began to tear up, and Alexander's face softened immediately._

_"Come on now Bumble Bee. Everything's going to be ok. Just go inside, and I'll be in a few minutes." Alexander lovingly caressed Alex's cheek, and then started walking towards the man._

_No…Alex knew what happened next. She knew, she didn't know how, but she knew something bad was going to happen. She tried to run and catch up with her dad, but he had gotten so far away some how. _

_"Daddy! Wait! No, don't go!" She reached out her hand. "Daddy…please…Daddy…"_

"Dad…" Alex opened her eyes groggily. She noticed everything was sideways…no, she was lying on the floor; she could feel the worn carpet underneath her, but what was she doing there?

She tried to get up and that's when she noticed the pain. She fell back to the floor with a grunt. Now she remembered. She had come home from school and Chad was drunk. Something had happened at work with his boss, something that really pissed him off apparently. He hadn't held back at all.

Alex slowly rolled over onto her back and grimaced. Pain coursed through her body. She lifted up one of her arms and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She closed her eyes again and images of her dream skittered across her mind. That's right, she had dreamed about her dad. She laughed bitterly. It was pretty ironic that here she was, beaten to unconsciousness by her mother's boyfriend, and she dreams about her father. A tear fell from her eyes. It had been so long since she had had even thought about it…but what was there to think about? He was dead, end of story. No use getting all caught up in it.

Biting her lip to keep from crying out, she slowly stood up. She was in her room. Chad must have put her in there. She shuddered at the thought of him lifting her up…well he probably just dragged her. She looked over at her clock and it read 2:40pm. That wasn't right…she had gotten home at four o'clock. Had she slept through the night and part of the day? That means she missed school…

Forgetting her pain, she ran out of the room and into the family room. It was empty. She checked the clock there and it read 2:40. She went into the kitchen and the clock there read 2:40 too. So, the bastard had beaten her so hard that she had slept until now. She would have to come up with some excuse to explain why she had missed school...great.

Alex collapsed into a chair at the table and rubbed her eyes. Her stomach growled. She hadn't been able to eat anything yesterday because Chad had pretty much jumped her the second she was in the door. She got up and head towards the fridge. She was about to open it, but she noticed the note scribbled on paper taped to it. She opened the fridge, grabbed a coke, shut it, and then ripped off the note. She placed it on the counter and popped open her drink. As she took a swig, she quickly scanned the note. It was from her mother.

_Alex,_

_Chad told me that you weren't feeling well and that you had gone to bed early. I checked on you this morning and you were knocked out cold on your floor. _

Alex laughed bitterly. _'You have no idea,'_ she thought.

_There's some food in the fridge from last night that you can have in case you get hungry. I called your school and told them that you weren't feeling well. I'm going to be working late tonight, so I'll see you tomorrow. I hope you feel better._

_Love, mom._

Great, so she was stuck with the bastard again. Alex sighed. At least she wouldn't have to explain why she missed school. She went to the fridge and found the food that her mom was talking about. She plated it and put it in the microwave. As she waited for it to heat up, she went to the bathroom to splash some water in her face, but she stopped when she looked in the mirror. She looked like hell. Her lip was busted open and the area around her left eye was black. How had her mother checked on her and not seen her daughter look like that? She stared at herself. She was scared to lift up her shirt because she didn't want to see what sort of bruises had accumulated there. God, why the fuck did her life suck so much?

The beeping of the microwave brought her to her senses, and she headed towards the kitchen to get her food. She sat down at the table with her now steaming, day-old spaghetti, and began to eat quickly. She wanted to be able to take a shower and get out of the house before her "best friend" Chad came back home from work. Boy, she sure had a great life…

* * *

Paige looked around the lunch room. She could see the usual clicks of nerds, goths, punks, preps, and everything in between, but she couldn't find the one outsider that she was looking for. She was usually sitting at the table in the far corner or leaning against the wall near the door, but she didn't see her at either spots. She went back to her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sighed. Ever since she had seen the scars on Alex, she had been worried about the girl. She didn't know why because she used to dislike her, and they weren't even close to being friends, but here she was, worrying about the girl who was absolutely and totally her opposite. Life was just weird like that.

Hazel and Marco walked up with their trays and sat down.

"Hey, you ok?" Marco asked. "You have that sad Paige look."

Paige sighed. "Yea, just worried about some stuff."

"Like what?" Hazel inquired.

"It's nothing." Paige took a bite of her sandwich, chewed and swallowed. "So, tell me about this party that Jimmy's having."

Hazel immediately brightened. "Oh yeah, it's going to be the coolest party ever! He's having it on the beach with tiki torches and bonfires and…"

Paige let Hazel rattle on and on, only half listening. She scanned the room with her eyes again, but there was still no sign of the dark haired Latino. Hopefully she was ok…

* * *

**All right. Tell me what you think!**


End file.
